Chapter 3 Flashcards
Selective attention
Focusing conscious awareness on a particular
stimulus
Inattentional blindness
Failure to see visible objects when attention is
directed elsewhere
Change blindness
Failure to notice changes in the environment, a form
of inattentional blindness
Dual Processing
Information is often simultaneously processed on
separate conscious (explicit) and unconscious
(implicit) tracks
Blindsight awareness
A person can respond to a visual stimulus without
consciously experiencing it.
Parallel processing
Processing many aspects of a problem
simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of
information processing for many functions
Sequential processing
Focusing conscious awareness on a particular
stimulus
Circadian rhythm
Internal biological clock of 24-hour
cycle of day and night
Body temperature rises as morning approaches,
peaks during the day, dips in the early afternoon, and
begins to drop in the evening
Alpha waves
Relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state
Hallucinations
False sensory experiences, such as seeing
something in the absence of an external visual
stimulus
Delta waves
Large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep
REM (rapid eye movement)
Sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur
REM rebound
Tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM
sleep deprivation
Bright morning light activates light-sensitive proteins
that trigger the __________ nucleus (SCN) to
cause decreased production of melatonin in the
morning and increased production in the evening.
suprachiasmatic
Sleep may have played a ______ role in human
evolution by keeping people safe during potentially
dangerous periods
protective
Sleep helps_____________ damaged neurons
restore and repair
Sleep helps strengthen ______________ that
build enduring memories
neural connections
Sleep promotes creative _____________ the next
day.
problem solving
During deep sleep, the pituitary gland secretes a
____________ necessary for muscle
development
growth hormone
After a succession of _ hour nights, we
accumulate a sleep debt that cannot be satisfied
by one long sleep
5 hour nights
Dreams with negative event or emotion: _ in _ dreams
8 in 10 dreams
Manifest content
According to Freud, the remembered story line of a
dream (as distinct from its latent, or hidden, content
Latent content
According to Freud, the underlying meaning of a
dream (as distinct from its manifest content)
Freud’s wish-fulfillment Dreams provide a “psychic safety valve”
expressing otherwise
unacceptable feelings; dreams contain
manifest (remembered) content and a
deeper layer of latent content (a hidden
meaning)
Information processing Dreams help us sort out the day’s events
and consolidate our memories.
But why do we sometimes dream
about things we have not
experienced and about past
events?
Physiological function
Cognitive development Dream content reflects dreamers’ level of
cognitive development—their knowledge
and understanding. Dreams simulate our
lives, including worst-case scenarios.
Does not propose an adaptive
function of dreams.
Regular brain stimulation from REM sleep
may help develop and preserve neural
pathways.
This does not explain why we
experience meaningful dreams.
Activation synthesis REM
sleep triggers neural activity that
evokes random visual memories, which
our sleeping brain weaves into stories.
The individual’s brain is weaving
the stories, which still tells us
something about the dreamer.
Cognitive development
Dream content reflects dreamers’ level of
cognitive development—their knowledge
and understanding. Dreams simulate our
lives, including worst-case scenarios.
Does not propose an adaptive
function of dreams.
Depressants
Drugs such as alcohol, barbiturates (tranquilizers), and
opiates that calm neural activity and slow body functions
Barbiturates
Depress the activity of the central nervous system,
reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgment
Opiates
Include opium and its derivatives, such as codeine,
morphine and heroin; addictive
stimulant drugs
Include caffeine and nicotine, as well as the more
powerful amphetamines: cocaine, Ecstasy (MDMA),
and methamphetamine
Frank just took a drug that is associated with an increased risk of panic. Which substance did he take?
MDMA
You Answered
marijuana
Correct Answer
LSD
alcohol
Answer: LSD